This chapter is shocking- I didn't want it to turn out this way but it just did, and I can't think of what else to do to it.

It always began with the running; not running like you would in a race or when partaking in a playful sort of rivalry with friends or family, but a terrified flee from something that filled you with such pure terror that you were willing to use every ounce of energy you had trying to escape it.

Mariah grasped Trinity's hand tightly as they ran away from the Quadroon, that still hounded her dreams, even seven years later, and she heard herself scream as one of it's attacks brushed past her cheek and left a paper-thin cut in its wake. She knew it was getting closer to her and her child, so she began to run as fast as her legs could carry her, dragging the terrified ten-year-old behind her. Both were now running to their fullest extent, with Trinity clear ahead of Mariah and slowly getting smaller in the distance. Mariah called out, but it appeared that her daughter couldn't hear her.

Her foot snagged on something and she fell over, and lay facedown on the ground for a moment, before coming to her senses and standing up again, to find the beast standing directly over her, its rancid breath rustling her pink locks and making them slide back over her shoulder. Mariah tried to scream, but her voice caught in her throat as Quadroon swiped at her and knocked her to the ground. She shrieked as pain shot through her side, and tried to sit up, but found her arms weighted down by some unknown force, utterly useless for trying to right herself. Quadroon picked her up and stood her on her feet, facing away from itself, plainly amused with her futile attempts at escape. Mariah found her limbs unlocking and she craned her neck to see the creature behind her, but spun around again, surprised, when she heard a high-pitched cry.

Mariah looked down into her own arms to find Trinity in them, but not as a ten-year old, as a tiny infant, flailing her tiny arms helplessly and doing the only thing babies could do when something that unnerved them, and that was to release a scream with enough pitch to shatter glass. Quadroon seemed irritated with this new and loud noise, so it crouched down and aimed for its final attack on the two frightened people. Mariah's body stood there, wide-eyed, watching her death come, but her mind screamed for her to at least attempt escape. And as the beast's attack headed home, Mariah threw her spare hand up in front of her face and screamed, while holding her child with the other...

"Mari!"

Mariah forced her eyes open and found herself staring directly into her husband's pair of near identical ones. She felt Ray's body relax against her own and he shut his eyes for a moment, obviously relieved, and then opened them again to stare seriously at his wife.

"It was the dream again, wasn't it?"

Mariah nodded slowly, and her fringe touched Ray's brow every time she inclined her head.

Ray sighed, leaned forward and kissed Mariah softly in a somewhat comforting way. Mariah shut her eyes once again and let herself be engulfed by Ray's comforting warmth. Ray let out a slight breath of relief and placed his lips on Mariah's neck momentarily, and then pulled back but drew her closer to him. He then shut his own eyes and made an attempt to get back to sleep, but this effort was halted when he felt Mariah shudder. At first he assumed she'd just taken in breath a little too quickly, but the shuddering continued and she sniffled a bit. Only then did he actually realize that Mariah was trying to refrain from breaking out into full-on sobs.

"Mari, what's wrong?"

"Ray, I'm scared..."

"Of what?" He didn't sound annoyed or tired, just concerned.

"The kids are acting weird... and the bit beasts showed up with nowhere to go... and they always act like they're anticipating something..."

Mariah's hysterical ranting was halted when Ray placed his index finger softly to her lips.

"Mao, yi ding hui mei shi," Ray soothed his wife in their native tongue, and she smiled, in a rather exhausted manor but it was a smile nonetheless.

Mariah grinned cheekily and gave Ray a swift poke in the stomach, which caused him to match the grin.

"Arigatou, Rei."

"Japanese now, huh? In that case... Mao no nihongo wa sugoi desu."

Mariah laughed and Ray ran his tongue up her neck.

"Mao wa kawaii desu. Wo ai ni."

Mariah nodded and imbued her husband with a passionate kiss, and squirmed in so she could be closer to him. Ray slipped his arms around her waist and felt her bare skin react against his. And both of them were looking forward to what they knew was coming...

"Room Service!" an Austrian-accented voice called from outside the Honeymoon Suite door. Mariah broke away and smiled at her husband, who looked slightly disappointed.

"There will be time, Ray."

Ray nodded and swung off the bed to try and find some clothes.

"Umm... Ray?"

"Yes, Mari?"

"We left our clothes at the front door."

"Here..." Ray tossed her a complementary robe from their ensuite and she wrapped it around herself gratefully. The two lovers then wrapped their arms around each other and went to face the day.

"They suspect."

"No they do not."

"I can see into my mistress's mind... she is weary."

"She cannot know yet. And even if they did know, they have never done anything to prevent it before."

"I know that."

"We will just have to wait and hope that this works to our favour."

"Kirra, you have to get up." Mahalia's voice echoed through Kirra's head and the pink-haired woman moaned in a world-weary manor and rolled over.

"C'mon, Only five more days until our battalion gets a rest for a day. You can't be tired yet..."

"Yeah, but she's hung-over." Marth's voice entered the conversation. Kirra snarled and opened her eyes but immediately closed them when she found the sun was shining directly into her face.

"Late night?"

Kirra sat up at the sound of Artemis' voice, but lay down again after her head gave a very painful throb.

"You could say that," she muttered huskily.

"From what I heard, you actually quite enjoyed yourselves," Artemis commented.

"They all have fun until the hangover hits," Tasha's voice replied.

"Why are you here?" Kirra snapped immediately.

"Your brother is my commander, he came here so I came too," the dark-haired girl responded.

"Marth... go somewhere else so that idiot goes away..."

"Does she always treat you so badly?" Tasha questioned of Marth, ignoring Kirra's shocking attempt at insulting her.

"She's my older sister. It's like an occupation."

"Well, maybe it's time that you got some revenge."

Marth snorted and clenched his fist. "I'm not a vengeful person by nature."

"I can tell," Tasha said, and an expression appeared on her face, somewhere between a smirk and a grin. Marth inclined his head, half out of interest and half out of surprise.

"Look, your sister, who has pretty much complete domination over you as far as I can tell, is pissed out of her mind, and you're not willing to jump at the opportunity to get revenge?" Artemis asked.

"No." Marth replied.

"Suit yourself," Artemis muttered, looking rather huffy. Tasha said nothing but continued to stare at Marth with a somewhat concentrated expression on her face.

"Where's Kamali?" Kirra whispered in question to Mahalia, while the other three people continued their conversation about whether Marth should take this chance to get revenge.

"He's gone ahead to breakfast."

"Why isn't he lying here in agony like me?" Kirra whined in a juvenile manor.

"After what you two got up to last night, I'm surprised the lucky kid isn't out there taking on the world," Mahalia grinned.

"What are you...?" Kirra started, but she never finished because something in her memory of the previous night tweaked...

"Oh SHIT. Did I really do that...?" Kirra murmured.

"Sure as anything. I saw the whole damn thing."

"Damn you," Kirra snarled, ashamed to feel heat rise to her face.

"C'mon, we've gotta get going if we don't want Loch to eat us alive."

"Anything's better than that sloppy crap they tried to feed us yesterday," Kirra snarled.

Mahalia grinned an offered a dark-skinned hand to Kirra.

"We'll have to see if they have something for hangovers in the medical tent..."

Kamali sat at his squadron's table, stabbing into the same sloppy food as he had forced himself to eat yesterday, with the air of a person stabbing someone they truly despised to death.

'Okay... so you kissed the girl. Big deal. You like her, but she acts like she really couldn't care less if you were dead, alive or whatever's in between. But last night, she was acting as though she felt it too...'

'She was drunk...' sniggered an irritating little voice in the back of his mind.

'When you're drunk you still have some state of mind though.'

'Forget it, kid. You're out of your class by a long shot.'

At that point, Kamali was rocked out of his thoughts by two more metals trays being slammed down onto the table. He looked upwards, and Mahalia was standing there, supporting Kirra, who looked violently ill.

"What's wrong with her?" Kamali questioned of Mahalia conversationally. Kirra shot Kamali a look that could kill and Mahalia smirked as she helped Kirra onto the cold metal bench so she could attempt to eat without gagging.

"You're actually looking rather good for someone who was completely smashed last night," Mahalia commented.

"I wasn't as smashed as she obviously was."

"You still should be sick," Kirra slurred, forking some of the usual muck they were fed and attempting to feed herself, but missing her mouth entirely.

Kamali shrugged. "Perhaps I'm just one of the lucky ones."

"In more ways than one?" Mahalia snapped immediately, her eyes bright, ready to spread the rumour. Kirra turned her glare from Kamali to Mahalia and Kamali blushed and found out his feet were as interesting as they were ever going to look, at this point in time.

"Heh... so my eyes weren't deceiving me."

"You DARE tell anyone..." Kirra began to threaten, but Mahalia cut her off.

"I know. I wouldn't want to get someone like you pissed off anyway on account of I wouldn't live to see the next day."

Kirra nodded, content with Mahalia's promise, and suddenly noticed Kamali was looking rather disappointed.

"What's your problem?" she snarled, as if daring him to say anything. Kamali shook his head and Kirra once again nodded.

'You like him. Face it, you can't deny it forever," Mysticala's voice echoed in Kirra's head.

'Oh thank you, doctor Sigmund Bit Beast," Kirra retorted sarcastically. 'And I can deny it for as long as I damn well want.'

'So you do like him...'

'What? Damn it, you tricked me," Kirra spat.

Mysticala made no response but laughed as Kirra felt her presence fade.

'Stupid bit beast.'

'Don't insult yourself now.'

'Marth! What are you doing, listening in on me?'

'That's right. Consider it revenge for what you found out last night.'

'Tasha Reeves...' Kirra muttered sarcastically.

'Kamali Xao...' Marth shot back in exactly the same tone as Kirra had used. 'The irritating guy that follows us around and idol-worships us for some reason...'

'And Tasha Reeves, the sadistic bitch,' Kirra pointed out.

'Oh, now I've heard them all.'

Marth left Kirra's mind, and she could tell he was angry.

'Fine, be that way,' she hissed, before turning back to her teammates.

"How long until we go out?"

"About half an hour," Kamali said, squinting to see one of the television screens that had previously shown names of the injured and deceased.

"Excellent. Maybe by then we'll be able to dig up some hangover tablets," Mahalia smiled. "The medical tent didn't have any left."

Trinity scanned her children's medical reports repeatedly, just to make sure she hadn't misread any of the details.

"Trin... you've read those things about fifty times. The kids are fine, okay?" Kai said, very slowly, so as not to upset her by thinking he was just getting impatient.

"I know! Don't you think I know that?" she snarled.

"You're frustrated."

"I'm not."

"Don't lie. I can tell."

"I'm not."

"You are."

Trinity spun around as she heard her father's voice, startled, and he grinned.

"Plus you're tense. I scared the Hell out of you."

"Did not!" Trinity replied, but she let loose a kind of strangled sob afterwards.

Ray sighed and walked over to sit next to his daughter, and pulled her into a hug, while shooting Kai a 'shouldn't you be doing this?' look over his shoulder.

"This is completely pointless. Whether they just kill everyone or find some way to get around them, we're going to lose," Trinity whimpered.

"You did what you thought was right, Trin. And I know that everyone will follow you to the bitter end because they trust in your judgement," Ray soothed.

"They're not going to respect me after they watched their loved ones die."

"They joined this company, fully aware of what the consequences could be if we were ever to enter battle again. If they want to get mad at someone they can really only blame themselves because it was their choice and they were in knowledge that they were to follow your orders and may very well die," Ray stated simply to his eldest daughter.

"I know, but... I can't help feeling guilty about sending my own children out to fight... they're only seven years old."

"Now you know how we felt when you three were so eager to run out there and risk your lives for the sake of everyone else's," Ray replied, standing up and stretching a bit before walking to the door, but when he got there, he paused. "Perhaps it's about time the rest of the Senshi returned the favour, seeing that you three did a lot more than the whole rest of the barracks." Ray then turned to Kai, who raised one eyebrow in question.

"Look after my daughter, Kai," he stated, before leaving the room, and there was a certain tone in his voice that showed he was serious.

Kai nodded to the empty doorway, and then walked over to Trinity.

"Your father was wrong. WE did what WE thought was best..."

Trinity stared at Kai and he smiled. "Are we not both in charge of this company?"

Trinity nodded and Kai grasped her hand and sat down next to her.

"If anyone wants to go through you for what you've done, I certainly won't let you go through it alone."

"C'mon, it's our turn to go out," Mahalia said, glancing at her watch and nodding slowly, affirming that she was right.

Kirra nodded and stood up at a snail's pace. She felt violently ill after forcing that slop down her throat and frankly she wouldn't be surprised if she didn't...

"Are you okay? You're looking kind of queasy," Kamali remarked.

"Yeah... let's just go before I change my mind and decide I'm sick as a dog."

"Sounds good to me," Mahalia muttered. The three people exited the food tent and Kirra noticed that her little brother was still sitting at a nearby table with Tasha and Artemis. And they looked like they were playing... cards?

'He must be going out in the afternoon...' Kirra thought, before determinedly turning her thoughts from her brother and stepping out into the sunlight.

"Three aces," Artemis stated evenly, placing three cards facedown on the pile.

"Cheat," Tasha said.

"Damn you," Artemis snarled, dragging the considerable pile of cards towards herself and picking them up, adding them to her hand.

"Two kings," Marth said, starting the new pile as he placed his cards down.

"Cheat," Tasha said.

Marth grinned. "Nope."

Tasha scowled and picked up the two loose cards and saw that he was indeed playing fairly.

"Jeez, it's only a game. Don't look like it's the end of the world," Marth commented, hurriedly combing a loose strand of hair behind his ear. He didn't want them to think he was screwing around with his hair to try and IMPRESS them. 'Jesus Christ, no wonder I'm so hopeless with women.'

'You can say that again. Maybe you should get your father to help you, he seemed to have a special gift with the ladies. Especially your mother, may I add.'

'Thank you, Cisia!' Marth replied to the voice in his head.

He only had two cards left in his hand, so the two girls were determined to bring him down before he won.

"Four queens," Tasha stated, laying her cards facedown slowly and grinning.

"Cheat," Marth said. Tasha shook her head and Marth blinked, and grabbed the four loose cards and added them to his hand.

'Damn it... she was playing fair,' he snarled, staring down at his one six, one nine and four queens.

"Four sixes," Artemis smiled triumphantly, and laid her final four cards down on the table.

"Cheat," Tasha and Marth said on par with each other, and Artemis pouted and grabbed her four cards back. "I'm not good at this."

"No kidding," Tasha grinned. "One six."

Neither Artemis nor Marth spoke up, so Tasha brushed off her empty hands with the air of someone finishing something that had taken her a long time and excruciating effort.

"Looks like I win, then."

"Damn it. I would've won if I hadn't fallen for your feint," Marth muttered.

"Now, now... it is only a game," Tasha smirked. Marth glowered at the dark-haired girl and she shrugged, stood up and walked away, leaving her two stunned teammates behind her.

Artemis was the first to recover and she shook her head.

"I don't get her at all."

"I don't think anyone does," Marth commented. 'Although I wouldn't mind getting to know her a bit better. She's kind of weird but I like her.'

"Oh well, no point in worrying about her. She seems like the kind of person who takes pride in being able to take care of herself. Up for a game of snap?" Artemis asked. Marth nodded and smiled.

"I guarantee I won't lose this one."

"Don't bet on it," Tasha said as she returned to the table and reclaimed her seat.

"Which face of the earth did you disappear to?" Artemis asked.

"That's none of your concern."

Artemis shrugged and brushed on caramel coloured stand of hair out of her face.

"Suit yourself."

"I will."

Suddenly, Loch entered the tent in all of his glory (AN: Pfft. Glory my ass). Marth rolled his golden pupils high into his head and Artemis looked away, seemingly determined not to make eye contact. Tasha, however, looked over, intent to catch every word the supposed 'leader' of this entire operation had to say.

"Squadron B?"

Marth hesitated for about ten seconds, but then realized everyone was either staring at them or gesturing towards them, so he raised his hand of the table by about fifteen centimetres, obviously assuming this wasn't going to be worth the effort.

"I got word that one of your people got injured from shock..." Loch said, harsh laughter playing in his voice.

"She's seven years old." Marth's voice was dangerously quiet as he replied and shot Tasha a glare as she nodded slowly. She stopped without delay. Usually she wouldn't have but there was a dangerous glint in her leader's eyes that told her it would be the wisest choice.

"She's still a member of this army."

"You can judge the rest of us..." Marth snarled, violently standing up and knocking over the bench he was sitting on, "When you actually get out there and take part in the fight!"

"I am the leader of this operation!"

"No, you're the fuckwit out here giving us orders because my sister is back at the base trying to save our asses!" Marth shouted back, his eyes beginning to glint a dangerous gold.

"Your sister is doing nothing!"

Marth glared and his eyes shone with a bright gold and he raised his hand, ready to strike.

"How dare you!" He shouted, and his voice sounded out much deeper than it's usual tone as he swiped his raised hand past Loch's face at lightning speeds. He stood there for a moment, like deer caught in headlights before topping over. Marth regained his composure and looked down on the man, who now had three bright red cuts across his cheek.

"Coming?" he snapped to Tasha and Artemis, who had been sitting there through the whole ordeal like stunned mullets. They nodded and followed Marth out of tent. Tasha frowned at Marth once she was out of the tent.

'So legends do have truth behind them...'

Kirra yawned, swung her fist behind her head to hit a stealth enemy, and glared at her bit beast, which was keeping a steady pace at her side in her human form. Kirra had ripped a part of her high-collared shirt off to compress a cut on her left shoulder, and to stop the bleeding.

"What are you doing, being my escort?"

"It is my job to guard you."

"I do not need guarding. I am able to look after myself."

At that point, the bit beast changed back to its usual feline form and swiped at another enemy that had just attempted to attacks her mistress.

'Oh don't you, now?'

"Cala, just go and protect one of the weaker people. I don't need a chaperone. Go and look out for Kamali or something."

'You care for the boy more than you think you do.'

"Bull," Kirra snapped.

'No I'm a mountain cat.'

"Don't get my attitude now," Kirra smirked and she made a feeble punch at an enemy, who dodged with ease, but was swatted down by the bit beast seconds later.

'As you wish.'

The bit beast then dashed away, as per her mistress' prior command, and Kirra continued to pick off the few stragglers that hadn't managed to get into the main mass of the battle.

Kirra kicked at another challenger sloppily, and it swerved to one side and lined up an attack. Kirra snarled and lunged forward, but once again missed and fell to the ground. The creature hissed triumphantly and lined up its final attack...

And Kamali jumped past and decapitated it with Kirra's old katana, which she had submitted to him the day before. Blood had been dripping from a gash in his forehead, but it appeared that it had ceased bleeding because the trails of blood that were staining the side of his face were dry.

"Are you alright, Kirra?" Kamali asked, offering her a hand that she gratefully accepted. "Your bit beast said you were in a little bit of trouble."

Kirra glared at Mysticala, who waved its tail innocently.

'Traitor.'

'Is it traitorous to ask for assistance from an ally?' the great cat said, before dashing off.

"Kirra?"

"Huh?"

"I asked if you want me to stay here with you for a while."

"Not necessary," Kirra snapped, yanking her hand from Kamali's grasp. "I'm fine."

"If you say so..." Kamali said, brushing his chocolate brown hair out of his face and running off towards the nearest of the attackers (which wasn't very far, Kirra noted) and began hacking away at its armoured back.

Kirra turned one eighty degrees to look for another target, and was caught by surprise when she felt something wet drip onto her head.

"Rain?" she wondered out loud. 'But there's not a cloud in the sky...'

She felt another splash of moisture hit her cheek and she reached up to brush it away, while still looking around to find where it could have come from. It wasn't cold, and was a little too thick in mixture to be water...

At that point, she actually looked down at the hand she'd used to wipe it away, and found her palm and fingers smeared with red. A sharp cry suddenly sounded out from above her and she saw a larger version of her enemy holding up what looked quirkily like...

"A human head..." someone close to Kirra muttered. At that point, her stomach gave a severe lurch and she forced herself to take long, deep breaths to try and calm down as she sunk to her knees and then sat down, still breathing heavily. All of the surviving enemies were hissing their approval as some of the bit beasts and humans regained their senses and began picking them off once more.

The larger one that was still holding up the decapitated head hissed down on the humans and bit beasts and out of the corner of its eye, noticed Kirra looking up at it with the pinnacle of human disgust. It pushed its fanged mouth into a grin of some sorts and dropped the head, screeching in delight as it landed perfectly in the middle of Kirra's lap.

Kirra stared in at the violated appendage with the same look of horror the head itself wore, frozen in the person's last moments of life, dripping with blood, he screaming in terror as his attackers had reached forward and...

Kirra felt her cheeks puff out and pushed the head off her lap violently and stood up hurriedly, stumbling away as far as she could get away from the look of terror that was now burned into her mind. Finally she decided she was far enough away and doubled over, gagging and retching every time the memory of the decapitated head came back into her mind, until she'd emptied her stomach and just stood there choking and coughing violently, with her face flushed.

"Kirra!" Kamali's voice came through the ruckus. "It's time for us to go back!"

Kirra didn't even turn her head. Instead, she just stood there, taking in huge gulps of air as Kamali and Mahalia rushed towards her. Mahalia reached her first, and looked down at the ground just in front of her. The older woman was limping and there was some dried blood up the leg she was limping on, staining her dark skin with red.

"Holy shit," she commented, "If you felt that sick she would've taken you up to the medics tent."

Kirra snarled, spat on the ground to rid herself of the foul taste in her mouth and jammed one middle finger up at Mahalia, while keeping her other hand on her knee to support herself.

"Charming," Mahalia grinned. "I'll have to tell that Loch bastard that the slop he's feeding us ain't good for your digestive system. Heck, I have you as proof, kid."

Kamali finally caught up and raised his eyebrows at the mess Kirra had made on the ground in front of her. "Jeez, just how much did you drink last night? I probably got drunker just from you ki..."

"Stop there," Kirra gasped, attempting to straighten up but failing. "I don't want to think about some of the crazy crap I did on occasions when I was drunk."

"So, how're we gonna get her back?" Mahalia asked Kamali, looking over her shoulder at the continuing battle. "It seems we're still holding up all right."

"That doesn't matter," Kirra whispered. "These are the lower ranking enemy. They'll send in the elite ones once they think both our supplies and our bodies have been exhausted."

"I'll believe it when I see it. Can't get much tougher than this."

Kirra grimaced at her friend's disbelief in her knowledge and once again tried to stand up straight and once again failed marvellously.

"Here..." Kamali said, kneeling down and knocking Kirra off her feet and into his arms. He was effectively cradling her like a child and Mahalia grinned at Kirra who was too damn tired to scowl so blushed instead. Together the three people made their way off the battlefield and back to their tent.

They met Marth, Tasha and Artemis about halfway there and Marth stared at his sister and Kamali and grinned.

"Jeez, what happened to her?"

"The alcohol got its revenge on her, I think," Mahalia smiled down on the younger girl.

"Well, I suppose she got what she deserved," Marth commented, and he shuddered when he got a glare from his sister in return.

"So, where are you three off to?" Kamali asked.

"Well, it's obvious that you three just got back from battle, and we were ordered to replace a squadron, so it must be you guys..." Tasha murmured.

"How can you tell we just got back?" Kirra questioned sharply.

"You're covered in mud, blood and what looks like your breakfast," Tasha shot back.

Kirra rolled her eyes and immediately felt dizzy. She grabbed onto the front of Kamali's shirk and he blushed very slightly.

Marth smiled. "Look after my sister, Kamali."

The three B squadron warriors then stalked off to replace Kamali, Kirra and Mahalia.

(Early hours of the morning)

It was now about two in the morning, and the fights had finished for the day. Kirra, Kamali and Mahalia had had their wounds patched up and were now back in their tent. Kirra hadn't seen her brother, Tasha or Artemis again, even at dinner, but according to the TV screens, they weren't dead, missing or severely injured.

The category 'missing' had recently been added to 'dead' and 'injured', and was basically a fancy way of saying, 'injured beyond identification'.

"You know Kirra, you really should be asleep," Mahalia commented, taking a sip from one of her liquor bottles and brushing on dark, surly strand of hair behind her ear.

"I'm fine, damn it. How many times do I have to be babied before you get it through your head?"

"When your face goes back to its usual tan instead of white it'd be good..." Kurai muttered. He was still groggy from the blow to the head but seeing that he'd slept the whole day he'd woken up at this ungodly hour unable to get back to sleep. Good thing Mahalia, Kamali and Kirra were usually still awake at ungodly hours anyway.

"Your skin is always white, kid, and you're criticizing me?" Kirra asked, but she was smiling.

"My father is Russian. All Russians look like snowmen, basically," Kurai scowled.

"Your mother was Chinese though," Mahalia pointed out.

"Obviously didn't get much of Trin's blood," Kirra muttered. "But then again, I don't think either of them did. Maybe one day if Marth ever finds someone to have kids with, they'll end up looking like Daddy."

"What about you?" Mahalia questioned, smiling as she did so.

"Hell no!" Kirra snapped, looking shocked at the very mention of herself being a mother.

"You'd be a terrible example for your kids anyway," Mahalia joked.

"Hah, hah, hah..." Kirra said sarcastically.

"That's what they all say. Mum reckons she used to say that all the time," Kurai pointed out. He then yawned and rubbed at his mahogany eyes tiredly, before lying down and keeping then shut.

"You're not wrong, kid. Those were the days, I tell ya," Kirra smiled, before turning to Mahalia. "It's kind of ironic actually, because my sister and Kai have been trying for more for four years with no success, and Kurai and Lita were an accident."

"Sometimes that's the way fate goes..." Mahalia muttered. "Me and my late husband lost three. Two miscarriages and a stillborn."

"Oh... I'm sorry about that," Kirra said awkwardly.

"Bah, I suppose it'd be more depressing to get to know 'em before they went. I suppose I'm lucky I didn't get a chance to get attached."

"Not true. Carry some horrible crying kicking whining puking life form around in your gut for nine months and you're bound to get attached." Kirra stated sarcastically.

"Your parents care for you and you brother and sister a lot, as far as I can tell," Mahalia pointed out.

"Nah, they just enjoyed the conception part of the equation. We were the added bonuses."

Mahalia laughed. "Kid, I'm smack-bang in the middle of eleven brothers and sisters. And God knows our parents didn't give a hoot or holler for any of us."

"Yeah, well they sucked," Kirra, stated firmly. "And I reckon my parents would've tried for twelve. If they had, we would've driven them insane. And if your parents were all that bad, I dunno how they produced a decent person like you."

"Thanks," Mahalia said, smiling at the younger Chinese girl.

"No probs," Kirra replied, "Anywho, can you keep an eye on Kurai? Kamali's asleep so he can't do it, God knows who else could..."

"Of course," Mahalia nodded and looked at the now sleeping blue-haired boy fondly. "He's kinda cute, when he's not biting your head off."

"He's not too bad- he adores his sister. He's definitely Daddy's boy, I think."

"Judging on what I've heard about Hiwatari, I'm not surprised.

"Heh... I'll be at the shower block if you need me," Kirra said, grabbing her knapsack and slinging it over her shoulder.

"At this hour?" Mahalia asked.

"It saves my dignity. No-one else is there at this hour- believe me, I know from experience."

"If you say so. I'll probably be asleep when you get back, though."

"I don't blame you," Kirra murmured, before yawning and stretching a bit. "See ya!"

"See you tomorrow morning," Mahalia shouted into the cold night air. She then spent about five more minutes finishing off the last of the bottle of booze, and tossed the empty glass back in her bag before dimming the kerosene lamp and rolling over, ready for the sleep she desperately needed.

Mahalia was almost asleep, about three minutes later, when Kamali stirred next to her, got up, grabbed his own backpack of possessions and exited the tent. Mahalia watched him go and frowned in confusion.

"I wonder where he's off to..."

I'll give you three guesses where Kamali is going. Wink